Played an hour last night. Been in full media blackout so didn't know a thing about it.The devs even suggested to first play through with English dub, then play the Japanese afterwards. :yeshrug
I have no issue with FF games not being turn-based, that's fine.
But, I do want my FF to be more Japanese videogame-y. This is way too western looking for me. All the characters look wrpg bland and the environments dull and muted colors. Can't say I'm interested in the characters or world so far.
Feels like taking FF15's look and going even further into western territory. Even the Japanese VA is bad and feels like a half-asses dub.
Hopefully it feels more FF as it goes along. Just getting that PS3/X360 era feeling initially of Japanese devs chasing western styles, which they don't do very well.
If not, eh, at least 14 still exists and is super Japanese.
Played an hour last night. Been in full media blackout so didn't know a thing about it.
I have no issue with FF games not being turn-based, that's fine.
But, I do want my FF to be more Japanese videogame-y. This is way too western looking for me. All the characters look wrpg bland and the environments dull and muted colors. Can't say I'm interested in the characters or world so far.
Feels like taking FF15's look and going even further into western territory. Even the Japanese VA is bad and feels like a half-asses dub.
Hopefully it feels more FF as it goes along. Just getting that PS3/X360 era feeling initially of Japanese devs chasing western styles, which they don't do very well.
If not, eh, at least 14 still exists and is super Japanese.
I haven't listened to the dub yet, may check it out for a bit. I generally can't stand English VA in Japanese games unless it's purposefully goofy/terrible like Devil May Cry/Resident Evil. If it's a good dub maybe I'll go English VA.
Is it FFXII quality?
I haven't listened to the dub yet, may check it out for a bit. I generally can't stand English VA in Japanese games unless it's purposefully goofy/terrible like Devil May Cry/Resident Evil. If it's a good dub maybe I'll go English VA.
From the gameplay I've watched it's very good and without the type of Saturday morning cartoon English VA affected schtick one often hears in Japanese-to-English anime/game dubs (probably helped by the fact they're all British VAs).
Is it FFXII quality?
The dub? Looking up gameplay I could charitably say FFXII sounds like what I'd expect a mid-00s English dub would sound like :doge
I'm at least glad that multiple FF aesthetics currently exist in the AAA front. You have styles like FF16 realistic western,
styles like FF14 cartoony
(https://i.imgur.com/UsM7huNh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NSdeV4Ph.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/cXr3IiIh.jpg)
And styles like FF7r realistic anime
(https://i.imgur.com/c2SubJQh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/MEai1hel.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/YWoTB2xh.jpg)
At least SE isn't betting the farm on just one style and you get some variety.
It never is for FF. Look at the differences just between FF6 -> 7 -> 8 -> 9 -> 10. They're changing the art direction all the time. I see no problem with this, other than a certain installment not jiving with some people.I'm at least glad that multiple FF aesthetics currently exist in the AAA front. You have styles like FF16 realistic western,
styles like FF14 cartoony
(https://i.imgur.com/UsM7huNh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NSdeV4Ph.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/cXr3IiIh.jpg)
And styles like FF7r realistic anime
(https://i.imgur.com/c2SubJQh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/MEai1hel.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/YWoTB2xh.jpg)
At least SE isn't betting the farm on just one style and you get some variety.
I think it shows that SE has no actual idea what it wants for the franchise. No one vision. No one plan.
I’ll probably like/love this one.Interesting. I would have to disagree. I see way more anime influence in this over DD.. just by Clive and Jill alone from what I've seen; their face builds and hair. So far, all the characters look like they're all from the same KILLING CHAOS boat style realistic anime, and DD edges closer to trying to emulate a western/European style.
Just a bit put off by the westaboo. I always feel like westaboo games are a waste of dev years. Dragon’s Dogma looks more Japanese than FF16 so far.
It never is for FF. Look at the differences just between FF6 -> 7 -> 8 -> 9 -> 10. They're changing the art direction all the time. I see no problem with this, other than a certain installment not jiving with some people.I'm at least glad that multiple FF aesthetics currently exist in the AAA front. You have styles like FF16 realistic western,
styles like FF14 cartoony
(https://i.imgur.com/UsM7huNh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NSdeV4Ph.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/cXr3IiIh.jpg)
And styles like FF7r realistic anime
(https://i.imgur.com/c2SubJQh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/MEai1hel.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/YWoTB2xh.jpg)
At least SE isn't betting the farm on just one style and you get some variety.
I think it shows that SE has no actual idea what it wants for the franchise. No one vision. No one plan.
For example, I think the FF9 style is vomit inducing, but allot of people love it. Still, good on them for trying a different approach yet again. FFXVI is no different.
I mean they think thats the point of FF..I'm at least glad that multiple FF aesthetics currently exist in the AAA front. You have styles like FF16 realistic western,
styles like FF14 cartoony
(https://i.imgur.com/UsM7huNh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NSdeV4Ph.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/cXr3IiIh.jpg)
And styles like FF7r realistic anime
(https://i.imgur.com/c2SubJQh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/MEai1hel.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/YWoTB2xh.jpg)
At least SE isn't betting the farm on just one style and you get some variety.
I think it shows that SE has no actual idea what it wants for the franchise. No one vision. No one plan.
I mean they think thats the point of FF..I'm at least glad that multiple FF aesthetics currently exist in the AAA front. You have styles like FF16 realistic western,
styles like FF14 cartoony
(https://i.imgur.com/UsM7huNh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NSdeV4Ph.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/cXr3IiIh.jpg)
And styles like FF7r realistic anime
(https://i.imgur.com/c2SubJQh.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/MEai1hel.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/YWoTB2xh.jpg)
At least SE isn't betting the farm on just one style and you get some variety.
I think it shows that SE has no actual idea what it wants for the franchise. No one vision. No one plan.
The obvious reason for 'changing up visions' now, is that it takes 6-8 fucking years to make a FF when compared to 1-2 back then.
Game sucks.I thought you were skipping it?
Game sucks.I thought you were skipping it?
Yeah, I see now it would have been healthier for me to actually not do that.Game sucks.I thought you were skipping it?
After all that pre-release hating, he still bought the Collector's Edition.
:dead
I also feel like boss fights are kind of boring because of the boss HPs and not having enough of an offensive arsenal to do anything interesting.
I'm still really early on, just finished the forest area and got to uh Stillglade I think it's called? But on boss fights/mini-bosses all I can do is just dodge and mash slash until my cooldowns finish and then pop them and then it's another 60 seconds of just dodging and slash slash slash slash slash. Ranged magic seems pointless so far and weaker than slashes and even the hold down slash for a flamed slash seems like less DPS than just doing 2-3 slashes in the same time frame. So there's basically no point in doing anything other than slash slash slash.
Learning the boss patterns and dodging them is fun for a bit each fight, but they usually don't have a lot of attacks and once you figure them out and counter a few times and stagger them down and pop your cooldowns you've seen everything there is to the fight and then it's just doing it another 2-3x times until the HP is gone.
I'm really hoping that as I get more abilities the combat gets more varied on the offensive side.
Ranged magic seems pointless so far and weaker than slashes and even the hold down slash for a flamed slash seems like less DPS than just doing 2-3 slashes in the same time frame. So there's basically no point in doing anything other than slash slash slash.I believe the charged smash is used for guard breaking resilient enemies and charged magic are most often used on downed enemies to get a launcher.
Honestly, if the game is that button mashy for you it sounds like you either got those "game journalist" items equipped. Or you are barely using the full extent of your abilities.
Honestly, if the game is that button mashy for you it sounds like you either got those "game journalist" items equipped. Or you are barely using the full extent of your abilities.
Also outside of battle, I would add fishing. FF games really lack the fishing mini-game.
Except FF15. It got a whole VR game dedicated to it! Maybe that's another reason why I enjoy the gameplay of 15.
I will say I never want another walk and talk and fight and cutscene game again. Especially not an FF.
FF13 is my least favorite in the series because it’s so boring gameplay-wise. People say FF10 is like that too but I haven’t played it in 20 years so I don’t remember how it’s executed there.
So far this is running a close second and a big step down from FF15 in gameplay for me. When they don’t even give you a mini-map because the whole area is just a corridor…
Story is solid, graphics outside frame rate are great, music excellent but it’s a total snore to play outside boss fights early on.
Would have rather Yoshi-P just made an offline MMO with nice graphics and a good story.
So this game is legit pretty bad. They really fucked up a mainline FF...again
It's crazy how the side games keep getting it right like FF7 Remake, World of FF, Stranger of Paradise. They find a good design that balances gameplay and story and they run with it. Yet, the mainline FF games just keep fucking up hard. All I can think is that the mainline games have too many cooks in the kitchen problem of every producer/creative at SE wanting it to go one way or another, whereas the side games they're more hands off.
Like for FF16:
Ditch the turn-based combat into all action? Ok, that's fine.
Ditch the world exploration, dungeons, rpg systems for action stages? Ok, that's fine
Make spectacular QTE fights like Asura's Wrath? Ok, sure.
But like instead of just copying Devil May Cry/Asura's Wrath and making a pure Platinum stage-based action game with cutscenes between, it feels like they're still trying to be like 20% a jrpg and that just pulls it in different directions.
Like if this was just a DMC/Bayonetta-clone, you'd have a style meter, you'd have different rewards at the end of each battle based on your performance. You'd replay stages in arcade mode to get rewards for getting higher scores. All of this would motivate mixing up the combat and replaying the stages. But for whatever reason they fuck it up? There's a style meter, but it's only in arcade mode, and it doesn't reward anything for the main campaign.
If it was a DMC/Bayonetta clone, the combat should flow better, easier to launch, easier to move around, less weighty, especially for the enemies. It should be more fun, less mashy.
The combat feels like it's trying to be Dragon's Dogma and be more an arpg combat, while also trying to be a stage based action game, while also trying to be an FFXIII walk and talk cutscene story. It just doesn't really work. They should have focused on ripping off a single genre and executed that really well with a good story/music/gfx. Either make a pure action game, or make a dragon's dogma kind of game, or make an rpg. Idk, but they need to pick one.
The game just feels really unsatisfying to play. Might as well just watch all the cutscenes as an interactive movie. FFXIII was like this too.
I really never expected that out of the FF13/15/16 trio of modern AAA FF mainlines, that FF15, as a bastardized unfinished game made in 18 months by a PSP team, would turn out of the best of the three by far. When I was playing FF15 and driving around and riding chocobos and doing FFXII style hunts and eating foods and hanging with the bros and discovering mysteries in the desert I was having way more fun than I am walking down another corridor with grumpy Clive to another fight with the same group of enemies over and over. Also as much as FF16 has a great score, so did FF15 with Shimomura putting in the work.
I'll stick with FF16 for the story/music/gfx and see it through. But considering FF14 and Heavensward were very good, this is an incredibly disappointing game from this staff. Especially the staff being like Matsuno's proteges. Vagrant Story, TO/FFT, FFXII were pretty technical gameplay games that had interesting mechanics along with their stories. The game aspect of FF16 is kind of pathetic coming from this team. I had no idea that Yoshi-P who made zone and gameplay-based FF14's deep desire was to make interactive movies.
Feels like about a 7/10 so far. No idea how FF16 reviewed so well. Maybe the story will be worth it in the end. But I just can't see this being anything beyond the 2nd worst mainline FF of all time (with FF13 being the worst).
Strangers of Paradise hilariously is a much better FF than this. Should've just called that one FF16 and tightened up the visuals and called it a day. At least that one had good gameplay and the story was decent as well.
This and Zelda were the two big 2023 games for me. Zelda was amazing and better than I expected by far. While this is worse :( I guess 1 for 2 is better than both games being a disappointment. Yeah I'm also interested in Spider-Man 2, but it's Insomniac, so I'm sure it'll just be more of the same from the last two ones, which is fine but nothing interesting or special.
I guess next game that has a chance to wow me will be FF7r Rebirth. As long as they don't tinker with the combat/stage flow that much for the worse, it should be good. What I would have given to have a new original story FF game in the style of FF7r :\
Honestly, if the game is that button mashy for you it sounds like you either got those "game journalist" items equipped. Or you are barely using the full extent of your abilities.
By mashy I mean the enemies just sit there and it's brainless.
.
I don't even understand the parry mechanic. It says just slash them right when the attack is about to hit you but I do that and just eat it, meanwhile I've activated parry on a pheonix dash at the initial dash part which isn't an attack wat. So I just evade and counter and don't mess with the parry at this point.It's activated like the DMC parry almost exactly. You just have to have one of your own attacks hit right as their attack would hit you. It's slightly easier if you use attacks with longer active frames/bigger hitboxes like the lunge. It's like a clash in guilty gear.
QuoteI don't even understand the parry mechanic. It says just slash them right when the attack is about to hit you but I do that and just eat it, meanwhile I've activated parry on a pheonix dash at the initial dash part which isn't an attack wat. So I just evade and counter and don't mess with the parry at this point.It's activated like the DMC parry almost exactly. You just have to have one of your own attacks hit right as their attack would hit you. It's slightly easier if you use attacks with longer active frames/bigger hitboxes like the lunge. It's like a clash in guilty gear.
Royal Guard is the meme parry due to the fact that most nerds crank their hog to DMC 4 Dante clips on YT but you've actually been able to parry with weapons since DMC 1. a more accurate way to explain it is you hit their attack with your attack and it will parryQuoteI don't even understand the parry mechanic. It says just slash them right when the attack is about to hit you but I do that and just eat it, meanwhile I've activated parry on a pheonix dash at the initial dash part which isn't an attack wat. So I just evade and counter and don't mess with the parry at this point.It's activated like the DMC parry almost exactly. You just have to have one of your own attacks hit right as their attack would hit you. It's slightly easier if you use attacks with longer active frames/bigger hitboxes like the lunge. It's like a clash in guilty gear.
Isn't parry in DMC a royal guard button? You just wait until the attack is about to hit and then hit O or whatever. I haven't parried much in DMC since DMC3 though.
I think the other reason this game presents poorly is it basically has two long ass prologues before it takes the training wheels off
Sounds like DMC then. DMC enemies aren't that aggressive. DMC is a more offense oriented game all about combos and looking cool. It's not Ninja Gaiden.
Sounds like DMC then. DMC enemies aren't that aggressive. DMC is a more offense oriented game all about combos and looking cool. It's not Ninja Gaiden.
Didn't Itagaki even trash talk DMC about that at one point?
1UP: What do you think of the Dynasty Warriors series?https://web.archive.org/web/20060111084258/http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=2&cId=3140456
TI: As a real man, I find no feeling of achievement in beating up millions of defenseless enemies. As for my opinion as a gamer, my free time is too valuable to spend it hacking away at an endless stream of dumb-as-a-brick opponents.
I think the other reason this game presents poorly is it basically has two long ass prologues before it takes the training wheels off
Sounds like DMC then. DMC enemies aren't that aggressive. DMC is a more offense oriented game all about combos and looking cool. It's not Ninja Gaiden.
Didn't Itagaki even trash talk DMC about that at one point?
Royal Guard is the meme parry due to the fact that most nerds crank their hog to DMC 4 Dante clips on YT but you've actually been able to parry with weapons since DMC 1. a more accurate way to explain it is you hit their attack with your attack and it will parryQuoteI don't even understand the parry mechanic. It says just slash them right when the attack is about to hit you but I do that and just eat it, meanwhile I've activated parry on a pheonix dash at the initial dash part which isn't an attack wat. So I just evade and counter and don't mess with the parry at this point.It's activated like the DMC parry almost exactly. You just have to have one of your own attacks hit right as their attack would hit you. It's slightly easier if you use attacks with longer active frames/bigger hitboxes like the lunge. It's like a clash in guilty gear.
Isn't parry in DMC a royal guard button? You just wait until the attack is about to hit and then hit O or whatever. I haven't parried much in DMC since DMC3 though.
here is a dry video demonstration
https://youtu.be/2vt-niFrzPw
An example of this is the hell scissor guys, they're a pain in the ass normally but if you hit them mid swing you parry and can shoot them to instakill.
I think the other reason this game presents poorly is it basically has two long ass prologues before it takes the training wheels off
Am I still in the 2nd prologue
I think the other reason this game presents poorly is it basically has two long ass prologues before it takes the training wheels off
Am I still in the 2nd prologue
My guess is that Remy's two sections are 1) basically the demo and just beyond when you team up with a certain someone and 2) the stuff up to your acquisition of a third aspect
Got past Typhon. Idk, story was never the issue. Will see if the gameplay gets any better.
I wish there was an easy mode that cut all enemy/boss HPs in half. Game would be so much better. Bosses take fucking forever. Not hard, just tiring.
CC2?CyberConnect2
Got past Typhon. Idk, story was never the issue. Will see if the gameplay gets any better.
I wish there was an easy mode that cut all enemy/boss HPs in half. Game would be so much better. Bosses take fucking forever. Not hard, just tiring.
Bebpo on suicide watch for the next two Eikon battles.
At least once you have three Eikons there starts to be at least a very slight amount of strategy in which abilities to use in which order with which accessories. Combat feels a bit more interesting than when you just had two Eikons.
This game rules. So glad I can finally enjoy a game and not an empty uncreative shitfest like Zelda. Glad that Final Fantasy can still be enjoyable
Did the Garuda fight holy fuck this game is so sick.Got to this point last night also. I'm loving the boss and miniboss fights so far.
What is Final Fantasy mode?
Having all your earned combat skills carry over and available at the start of NG+ is the best feature, at least for me. They also change up the beastiary a bit; I fought a Chimera on the way to Lostwing for instance
Hmmm, that sounds good actually.
Are enemies more tanky?
Hmmm, that sounds good actually.
Are enemies more tanky?
Things do scale in Final Fantasy mode so bosses are still spongy hp-wise but having all your tools to deal with that is why I think you'll find it much better. Also, since I know the story already, skipping some cutscenes helps with pacing. I'm already in the Desert :O
Yeah, this is definitely not an RPG and totally just an Action Adventure with "RPG elements" sprinkled in.. just like most character action games nowadays... And it's completely fine. It works and is still fun to play and gorgeous to watch. Unlike other games of late *ahem, I have to stop myself from engaging in every enemy encounter because the fighting is so fun and actually rewarding.
Not too far still.. guess I went through a pacing slump; heading back to Phoenix Gate with Jill. Some of the side quests are total snoozers, some are actual fat slices of background lore/scenarios.
Only big boss fight so far was Geruda.. which was really fun. My damn muscle memory keeps making me faulter in fights though; hitting O to dodge instead of R1. :duh
I need the OST. Good shit.
Like I said: franchise without a vision.I can agree with this in the aspect that labeling the titles as "main line" numbered entries is completely pointless now. Didn't they say they're going to do away with them anyway? I think they should at this point. There's just too many spin-offs, sequels, mobile/handheld fodder, etc., that too much is hung and expected on that numbered entry. Personally, I would've prefered they only stuck with them since the beginning and didn't do any of the spin-offs of sorts; Kept the scarcity of the franchise pure and solid... But I can only admit that I have only recently in the past few years grown to see that. It's too late now.
Like I said: franchise without a vision.I can agree with this in the aspect that labeling the titles as "main line" numbered entries is completely pointless now. Didn't they say they're going to do away with them anyway? I think they should at this point. There's just too many spin-offs, sequels, mobile/handheld fodder, etc., that too much is hung and expected on that numbered entry. Personally, I would've prefered they only stuck with them since the beginning and didn't do any of the spin-offs of sorts; Kept the scarcity of the franchise pure and solid... But I can only admit that I have only recently in the past few years grown to see that. It's too late now.
Zelda had a chance, but they're fucking it up now. These games are just not what they use to be, and not necessarily in a good way.
As for this entry, this is what GOW should have done... The epic scale of boss fights that GOW3 had is all here. Glad I skipped GOW:R and played this instead.
ff16 doesnt look low budget at all aisde from the kinda shitty faces
which is a design choice more than anything :doge
If I were SE I would do the following::obama I'd buy into it. Sounds like a proper swan song for the numbered entries of olde.
I would announce Final Fantasy XVII, XVIII, XIX, and XX. All at once. I would also say that Final Fantasy XX would be the FINAL, LAST NUMBERED FF. A true Final Fantasy. I would put one director on this project with one composer, a consistent writing team, and one character designer to give it one consistent vision, in the same way classical FF had. This project would be one full saga of games in the same way Mass Effect trilogy was, telling one complete story. Then when it ends Final Fantasy continues but no more numbered entries come out.
The amount of money to be made with this project...
(https://i.imgur.com/Zotd93U.gif)
The project would have to be the highest of quality. A true going away. Hire Sakaguchi. Make him producer. Do whatever you can. This project would help give the numbered games prestige again so that when they do away with the numbers they make everything with FF's name on it high quality, allowing them to make less FF overall, but make the name mean something again. FF could become like Zelda: an event game. Currently isn't an event anymore.
ff16 doesnt look low budget at all aisde from the kinda shitty faces which is a design choice more than anything :doge
There's nothing low-budget about XVI.
And the numbered entries shouldn't end. Thats stupid. FF is an anthology series, where Square puts its best people and best money to see what they will make. It doesn't need to go away, it needs new creatives interested in tackling what that entails.
But those were the best people.There's nothing low-budget about XVI.
And the numbered entries shouldn't end. Thats stupid. FF is an anthology series, where Square puts its best people and best money to see what they will make. It doesn't need to go away, it needs new creatives interested in tackling what that entails.
But that's the thing. XIII and OG XIV happened so clearly it doesn't have their best people. FF has had blunder after blunder. Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy Fantasy XIV are in the same franchise and all numbered which makes no sense. The numbers are utterly pointless and mean nothing any more.
Svarog was probably the best fight in the game, and its optional. I actually died - though that was me being dogshit
Like I said: franchise without a vision.I can agree with this in the aspect that labeling the titles as "main line" numbered entries is completely pointless now. Didn't they say they're going to do away with them anyway? I think they should at this point. There's just too many spin-offs, sequels, mobile/handheld fodder, etc., that too much is hung and expected on that numbered entry. Personally, I would've prefered they only stuck with them since the beginning and didn't do any of the spin-offs of sorts; Kept the scarcity of the franchise pure and solid... But I can only admit that I have only recently in the past few years grown to see that. It's too late now.
Zelda had a chance, but they're fucking it up now. These games are just not what they use to be, and not necessarily in a good way.
As for this entry, this is what GOW should have done... The epic scale of boss fights that GOW3 had is all here. Glad I skipped GOW:R and played this instead.
I agree that the numbers helps create baggage for Square Enix. But it also another thing: prestige. Problem is that the prestige of the numbered entry is now gone. It used to be, when a numbered entry FF came out it was a huge effing deal. But after XIII and XIV screw ups the franchise is kind of tainted. Not everyone liked XV either. This is the first time I've heard of SE wanting to get rid of the numbers but it makes sense if they did. People would be less mad when come out with entries they don't like and can move on to the next game that does interest them. It would also allow them the opportunity to do something no one else could think of: create a high budget turn based ATB FF of yore without it having to be tied to the numbered entries. Put it on Switch and it'd sell. People wouldn't get bogged down with the number and those that don't have an interest in that kind of thing could ignore it. They could drop the numbers and focus on two audiences: their classical Japanese audience and their new western hack and slash audience. Either way, we as fans win. If you want both, you get both. If you want one, you can pick which one and still get your cake and eat it too. Win win. After X the numbers lost any sense of significance anyways. That was when Final Fantasy as we knew it truly died. There's a giant number of people that want classical Final Fantasy. Stuff like Bravely are advertised as FF but not but let's be real, they're not Final Fantasy nor are they approaching the acclaim of FF's classic years (FFIV-X).
If I were SE I would do the following:
I would announce Final Fantasy XVII, XVIII, XIX, and XX. All at once. I would also say that Final Fantasy XX would be the FINAL, LAST NUMBERED FF. A true Final Fantasy. I would put one director on this project with one composer, a consistent writing team, and one character designer to give it one consistent vision, in the same way classical FF had. This project would be one full saga of games in the same way Mass Effect trilogy was, telling one complete story. Then when it ends Final Fantasy continues but no more numbered entries come out.
The amount of money to be made with this project...
(https://i.imgur.com/Zotd93U.gif)
The project would have to be the highest of quality. A true going away. Hire Sakaguchi. Make him producer. Do whatever you can. This project would help give the numbered games prestige again so that when they do away with the numbers they make everything with FF's name on it high quality, allowing them to make less FF overall, but make the name mean something again. FF could become like Zelda: an event game. Currently isn't an event anymore.
Zelda TOTK straight destroyed my will to play videogames, but FF16 was like a shot of adrenaline. I love videogames
Just tired of doing the sidequests for the same 3 people over and over.
This feels like the most budget limited FF game to me with how small the world is (Maybe on par with FF15, FF15's world map is definitely much bigger, but less dense), then again like I said I think most of the budget went into the Call of Duty stages which are one and done bits.
Even the combat gets old. I feel like all the good eikon attacks are in the first couple. The last few Eikons I try out their moves and never bother with them because they aren't any better than the kit I have going. Like phoenix dash basically beats out everything and you need to keep garuda on for mid-stagger grabs. Also seems like zero point in titan's guard counters since they do tiny damage and lock you into animation to get hit.
Game's a good game and I think it'll be a memorable FF, but yeah it's pretty mid. Probably like an 8/10.
I liked Titan's HULK SMASH moves.
The time trials are super fun. The only one that suck was Bahumet.
also what are you talking about with Titan. Titan's basic counter and his counter attack melt stagger metters.
spoiler (click to show/hide)I went into FFXVI pretty cautious about the direction. A lack of a real traditional party felt like a move that was really moving away from core jrpg battle concepts. Compound that with real time action combat that looked more like DMC and a seemingly adoption of western tastes in writing and aesthetics(begone anime pretty boys with emotions) and yeah I was a little cautious. I like jrpgs to be jrpg ass Japanese role playing games and it looked like Square in it’s increasing desire to have FF grow bigger was abandoning certain aspects for a western audience.
And you know what? I don’t think I was wrong, but that doesn’t mean I disliked the game. 100 hours later all side quests complete, all eikon trials complete, all hunts complete, and so on. I can safely say past a round 2 I got a lot out of XVI. Clearly, I did not dislike it, but it’s unevenness keeps it from reaching the heights that other FFs do for me. Perhaps, though that’s impossible. FF as a series I think for many fans grabs them at a young age and is a formulating experience for them and it makes it harder for instalments afterwards to match the special feelings those gave. That said, every FF is a special moment, a game that offers an experience like no other.
Now the combat was one of the most worrisome aspects going into the game for me. I like systems in JRPGS. I like crafting a party with specific roles and seeing how the game engages with me. I like finding the point of these systems and utilizing them to my fullest. I like party members, because I just like building a team and seeing what I can do with it. People seem to yell turn based elitist whenever fans don’t seem to jive with the real time action. I mean I have no problem with action gameplay, VIIR was fantastic and the direction I’d like the series to go. Star Ocean 6 was one of my favorite games of last year. But both of those games gave me what I want from jrpgs, which is to “think”.
Before people scoff at that, but jrpgs usually give me some thinking behind why I’m having a character in my party, why this weapon, and what’s why and how when it comes to utilizing these systems. It doesn’t mean they are some thinking man big brain game, it just means they engage me on a different level then some games. Even if most FF games are piss easy, I still think about what I want to do with my characters and party, they still give me systems I like to engage with. FFXVI’s combat system meant to me it was going to go for something else.
But did it give me what I like about jrpgs? Yes and no.
A little ways into the game I noticed that attacks had a stagger and attack rating. I had already felt that the Eikons were meant to have certain utility, more so styles than different weapons. Obviously, Gruada’s gouge is great at weaking stagger gauge, maybe best used after that embrace stagger attack. Or maybe not, maybe Titans block counter is better, the jojo like counterattack sure melts stagger when you use it as a counter. Then you get Odin’s attacks and at first I thought trying to fill the Zan guage just isn’t worth it. But then you get an accessory that you know boosts steel dancing gauge filling. Then you realize steel dancing basically pauses when it connects. So now to me Odin has become a lot viable. While Grauda is great and all, I’d rather have Phoenix, Titan, and now Odin. And I decided that because now when I get that half stagger window, I can use steel dancing and the gauge is pretty much full right there. I keep Phoenix because it has a great CC ability and an easy to use combo ability that works in pretty much every situation. Titan is great because the counters deplete stagger fast, and Odin to me worked as a great damage dealer. With Ignition for a good quick start to lead into staggered enemies (or crowd control) and then throw down thunderbolt before you LB/or Hold the Zan button. My friend himself found great use for Ramuh’s ability and preferred Grauda over Odin. Really the only one I found lacking was Bahumet, even after the Eikon trials. My point is that I actually think there’s perhaps more rpg to this then people give credit. More nuance to the battle system.
In a way, I started to somewhat see the Ekion selection like the paradigm’s of XIII, but based on a more action situation. Phoenix to start off with as a general attacker complete with it’s zero in shifting ability and good CC attack. Then shift to Titan when closer to an enemy for counters and Odin’s ability that I want to use at a specific window that will most likely happen as I’m closed in. Lastly, Odin himself for my attacks I want to make sure I get in during a staggered phase.
There was thought I put into these decisions. Maybe they weren’t the most “efficient”, but they were how I played. I started to think about equipment and how those little bonus would effect. Maybe having Phoenix’s CC attack on a shorter cooldown would be worthwhile, it was for Odin’s attacks.
At first I wished XVI was a jrpg framed as a DMC game. Later it seemed like they actually did adopt DMC combat to an rpg. And it’s fun, everything feels great. But it’s not without criticism. Most encounters do feel the same, your kind of are always doing the same thing. If you’re say a FFXIV fan and you really enjoy making sure you’re rotation is done well all the time, this may not bother you. It didn’t for me, but I enjoyed always trying to do my best. The grunt battles are extremely thoughtless, but again if you enjoy doing your best it may not bother you. I think this comes down to personal taste, but I think it can be said the combat is very fun and a great entry game into character action.
Boss battles and staggered enemies are where the battle system does really excel, they actually ask you to engage with these systems. That’s really the problem with XVI’s combat, it does not really ask you to engage with it on a deep level. Getting by with really no effort is extremely possible. Which despite what people say, I disagree about that being the norm. Even for 13. The encounter design for 16 I believe is pretty weak, while I have learned to agree that the argument for elemental weakness would maybe limit players freedom, I somewhat also think so what? It’s a jrpg and encounters should maybe force some rethinking.
I also still think the lack of party members is disappointing. Something like Scarlet Nexus does party members better and could have been an influence. Maybe there are elemental weaknesses, but if you chose the party member that has the Ekion of water it buffs and negates these things. I don’t know, just something. Speaking of the Eikons, I kind of don’t care for their battles. Yeah, the spectacle is there, but in the end they are kind of what I expected. It often really feels like you really don’t have any impact in them. Whatever progression or choices you’ve made are irrelevant. Just keep attacking with what we’ve given until they are dead. These numbers are for show, nothing you’ve done would really change how easy or hard this battle is. On repeats they will lose their luster.
One thing that I really think lost its luster quick was the general quest design of XVI. The sad part of XVI is for all Yoshi P’s talk about feeling like a roller coaster, it sure didn’t. If anything, it reminded me of XIV. Honestly to me XIV is boring outside of dungeons. Every zone feels the same. New zone, do a bunch of tedious quests that talk about the zone, story starts building again, dungeon/Primal time, and repeat. Its like this in XVi, you go to a new zone and have to deal with tedious quests and then the pacing restarts for exciting things. In general the game has I feel weak momentum, it lacks those exciting story moments like in X where your on the airship, then you have the boss battle with the red carpet, then Beveille, then some rest, and then shift where you control Yuna. Things that feel like good paced story and gameplay moments. XVI really lacks these coalescing of memorable story and gameplay moments. Everything feels very structured and segmented thanks to the quest design. It does not feel like a constant seamless cinematic adventure, nor does it feel like a journey thanks to the hub design. If there’s anything it took from GoT, it’s the instant travel from season 8.
So that kind of sucks to me and while I think the hub design helps in the sense of community that the game is strong in, it does make the world feel small. It does add to the world feeling like a level select world. In XII all the zones are connected, you must walk to most of them first, and so on. When its time to go Mt. Bur Ominse you can talk there and it feels like an actual journey. XVI misses these feelings. Hell, there are parts of the world that seem like they should connect, and they don’t. The first warning sign of course was “Journey with Cid to the Hideaway” and instead of a set-piece moment where you trek through the world and Cid talks to you giving you more worldbuilding, you instead open a menu and that’s that.
So much of XVI feels like CBU3 maybe doesn’t understand what a single player jrpg should be like. How you should pace them, how you should make the adventure feel. The level design of the world is fine on paper, but it has no good allusion to it. People dislike XIII because it fails at this. X on the other hand is just as linear and yet this problem doesn’t exist, because that game does many things to make it feel like you are traveling a world. The pacing, the scale of the world, and so on. XVI fails at that.
Like the structure, the side quests are kind of mmoy, but I will say plenty of hem provide interesting context which is an upgrade from a lot of jrpgs. Few are exciting in a gameplay way. Some are less exciting in a story way, but some complete whole character and/or town story arcs. The plus ones do have worthwhile rewards, but in general the equipment crafting and whatnot is simply there.
Some of this sounds uneven and well I mostly think the game is uneven. Plenty good, but also plenty bad or just dated. In general, I don’t think the game 100% takes FF to the next level. That applies to the story as well.
I like Clive, he is a personable character. He has an interesting character arc. Having great promise, and then finding himself with a purpose, and then maturing into someone who has purpose and a goal in life. It’s relatable, but also kind of stops halfway and then kind of becomes him banging the same drum.
I already think the story lacks exciting momentum, losing it after Cid’s death.
Before Cids death you had a lot of momentum complete with an ok arc for Benditka. I know people have some issues with her depiction in regards to how women are depicted. They have their points, but Im not as interested. Though I do think the women are weak in this game as Jill is a wet blanket. It became pretty clear to me that the Dominants would basically be arcs to themselves, which makes sense if you’re trying to structure a story. But Ben feels the most realized. It comes at a time where the story is really starting to get going. Her arrival brings interesting intrigue, but also a good first examination on the story’s themes. To me we see through her how a Dominant effects a person and how because of her connections to people being damaged she becomes a more cold walled off person, tying her being to her power. When she loses it, it becomes a terrible force. This is all decent first heavy stuff, its even well-paced with some nice linear map design.
And then the game kind of starts to falter.
“We’re going to sneak into the city to destroy our first crystal”
“Sneaking happens off-screen” and we never go to this city we keep hearing about. In fact we don’t really go to any of these cities the game constantly talks about. Adding to the ill-feeling of the world.
Then we flash forward and we’re with a more well realized Clive and the arc we are in is the Hugo arc and it’s not compelling. Because honestly, what nuance is there to Hugo. He’s angry about a relationship we really did not feel or see outside of one cutscene. One that I feel we are mostly left with the feeling of her kind of using him. But we don’t really delve into what Hugo feels or what drives him beyond being angry. I guess that fits into the themes of how our connections with people shape us, and in his case it leads him into fury, but I’m unsure if makes for interesting storytelling the way it’s presented. And how it connects to Ultima’s overarching goal I am less enthused.
Then we have Dion and again, I’m less enthused. We never saw when his father was a decent man and we also don’t get a good take on how Annabelle(maybe actually Ultima) is really influencing beyond he’s bad. But to what ends?
Which ties into this game’s problems. For all the Game of Thrones talk, it amounts to nothing. The maclhations of these states and whatnot in the end feel like whatever. They have so little to do with the actual plot that I’d rather the game just embrace the jrpgness and get to the Ultima stuff faster. The conflict between them feels distant and I guess that leads me to caring about Dion less, because what’s going on is his kingdom is whatever. A lot of this story is about Climate Change and maybe Sanbreqe is the America equivalent here, but there’s not a lot of commentary that could help push that. I just think it failed to really connect with me. It does not help that Anabelle feels like Cersi without any of the interesting elements. Just a villain for the sake of it and poorly written. Is her motivation to keep her bloodline pure, but she also props up her clearly infantile son? Who was never real maybe? It’s just not well done and so a lot of this arc falls flat for me.
Not as flat as Banabras whose nihilism perhaps serves as maybe an interesting mirror to Clive, but lacks a real punch after all the build up. The War of the Ekions does not feel like this war of philosophies and motivations symbolized by powerful characters, instead isolated episodic episodes that feel often undercooked.
Maybe not us undercooked as Ultima. We arrived a point where Ultima started to explain his backstory, I thought we were going to experience a Shadowbringer’s tier backstory dungeon. Hey, it’s worked twice there. I wish that’s what happened. I’m sure much has been said about Ultima and I think his problems kind of symbolize a lot of what the problems XVI’s story is. I don’t think it makes strong enough connections and explorations of it’s themes, which is rather ironic about of a s tory about connections.
Ultima is also driven by his connections. His goal is to bring back his own people, so he must be experiencing a great loss. Unlike Clive though he’s taken this task all on his own and formed a god complex. His problem is seeing humans as tools, just like people see the bearers and that is his weakness. I also found it interesting how he seems to use people’s connections against them, perverting them. Using their images against them.
But I also think the game does a poor job laying out exactly the mechanics and themes.
It starts off with these nation sates and whatnot, but in the end the conflicts of them are rather irrelevant.
There’s thematic elements with the slavery aspect and I would say in the end it’s better then who say a Tales game would handle it, but there doesn’t seem to be some really impactful connection to Ultima and the main plot. Like what I mean is that in FFX, pretty much all the world building ties into the plot on a surface and thematic level.
Yu Yeveon is a religion of death, even the masters are dead and clinging unto an everlasting cycle, as is the manifestation of this the theme, the villain itself.
But either way, it can’t be said I didn’t enjoy the game. And maybe a playthrough that avoids the most of the sidequest will create a more faster paced and eventful feeling game. The fact that I’m already interested in a replay I think says it all.[close]
He basically needed better hair and a less candy ass name.
Finally did the Bahumut battle last night.. Just when I was borderline wanting to shelf the game from boredom, this game just piledrives the shit out of your face, locks your balls in a figure 4 till you say matte..
Wow. :whoo
Finally did the Bahumut battle last night.. Just when I was borderline wanting to shelf the game from boredom, this game just piledrives the shit out of your face, locks your balls in a figure 4 till you say matte..
Wow. :whoo
That embarrassing beach scene up there with the 10 laugh scene as most embarrassing in the series.
Not sure how close I am to endgame, but I just did a regular/non- (+) sidequest that I thought had surprisingly good story moments (it involved that merchant Eloise and her brother Theo), as opposed to the usual boring MMO quest shit from most sidequests.
Finished the sidequests and hunts, only have the last main story quest remaining. These endgame sidequests are so much better overall than a lot of the others, I think it would've done the game a lot of good to cull maybe half of all sidequests that are basic-bitch stuff like item fetches, and just increase the rewards for the rest.
The farther away in time that I get from having finished this, the more fondly I start thinking on it, and the more I think it might be my personal game of the year (so far), even compared against TOTK.